About the Book:

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder — much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing — not even a smear of blood — to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . . 

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare’s ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

Book Review:  ★★★★★

This is a book that I have picked up to start several times — and other series just seemed to keep drawing my attention.  So, I was really happy when I finally got to this series that I found I really enjoyed this one more than several I have read.  

I really loved the approach to the merging of all the various worlds in this series — with the shadowhunter saga being right at the center.  I have really been getting frustrated with a lot of the push to make vampires more human and less evil, zombies that are suddenly taking over the universe and werewolves that are concerned with protecting half-breed vampire, human children.  This series holds true to the supernatural world and the myths that surround it, while still providing a unique and enjoyable story line.

While I found Alec and Isabelle to be irritating at times, with their superior attitudes towards the human world, I still found the characters to be fun, in that I found myself really getting involved with them.  I enjoyed how Ms. Clare developed a traditional set of characters, while intertwining elements of all the different myths into a cohesive story.  

One thing that Ms. Clare did exceptionally well in this book was not allowing any one mythical, supernatural creature to overshadow the others.  They each had their own role to fulfill in the story, and they each did it in order to keep the story carefully balanced between good and evil.  This goes a long way to maintaining the whole thrust of the story, which is the shadowhunters that stand between good and evil, while trying to maintain the only line of defense against the demon entities trying to take over the world.

Some aspects of the story I found a little predictable — like Clary’s heritage and the secrets that seemed to be buried in her undisclosed past.  But Ms. Clare still managed to maintain the complete surprise of the story, while allowing the reader to feel that they have it all figured out.  Trust me, in the end of this first book of the series, you will find that what you thought you knew — while actually true, is only half the story.

This is one that I have put on my must read shelves — and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

For more information about this book, and its author, be sure to visit the following websites: 

Shadowhunters Website

Love Vampires Book Review

About the Book:

Hours before his untimely—and highly suspicious—death, world-renowned astrophysicist Thom Bergmann shares his discovery of extraterrestrial life with his wife, Lucy. Feeling that the warring world is not ready to learn of—or accept—proof of life elsewhere in the universe, Thom entrusts Lucy with his computer flash drive, which holds the keys to his secret work.

Devastated by Thom’s death, Lucy keeps the secret, but Thom’s friend, anthropologist Pierre Saad, contacts Lucy with an unusual and dangerous request about another sensitive matter. Pierre needs Lucy to help him smuggle a newly discovered artifact out of Egypt: an ancient codex concerning the human authorship of the Book of Genesis. Offering a reinterpretation of the creation story, the document is sure to threaten the foundation of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions . . . and there are those who will stop at nothing to suppress it.

Midway through the daring journey, Lucy’s small plane goes down on a slip of verdant land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East. Burned in the crash landing, she is rescued by Adam, a delusional American soldier whose search for both spiritual and carnal knowledge has led to madness. Blessed with youth, beauty, and an unsettling innocence, Adam gently tends to Lucy’s wounds, and in this quiet, solitary paradise, a bond between the unlikely pair grows. Ultimately, Lucy and Adam forsake their half-mythical Eden and make their way back toward civilization, where members of an ultraconservative religious cult are determined to deprive the world of the knowledge Lucy carries.

Book Review:  ★★★

This is a book that I really had mixed responses to.  I am not exactly sure how I feel about it, and there are parts of it that the only description that applies is odd.  My first exposure to Naslund’s writing was through Ahab’s Wife. Naslund has a real gift for presenting old stories in a new light; she challenges her readers to find out how classic stories can be pertinent to the modern world.  Her treatment of Melville’s classic, Moby Dick is one that I found particularly insightful, and much more readable that the original.  And in this new work she turns her attention to another significant story of the human species — the story of creation, and the theme of the Garden of Eden.

This story explores the contradictory beliefs that inundate our world, most of them surrounding our religious beliefs, scientific investigations, and contradictory points of view.  All of these vying perspectives are presented through Naslund’s use of not only the different creation beliefs, but also the underlying suggestion of the history of the discovery of “Lucy,” once the oldest humanoid remains ever found.  Add to all this a story that is, for the most part set in a new — or “modern” presentation of Eden, with a new Adam and Eve — and you begin to see that our modern understanding of our mortal origins are anything but certain.  In addition to the clash between the creation stories and the scientific discoveries, Naslund also gives us an insight into the varying religious creeds, and their understanding of our created origins.  Many of these divisive points of view frequently lead to confusion, confrontation, and in some cases even violence.  Which is why I found this book interesting to read.  The issues that Naslund portrays are more than just valid, but they are also important for humanity.  They are the base of who we are, and how we perceive ourselves as a species.

As far as these issues go, the story is not only insightful, but also courageous in its willingness to delve into controversial questions without flinching from the hard questions we frequently face today.  But it also does so in a non-judgmental, and even open minded fashion.  This isn’t a story about religious belief, or even about the stand off between science and religion.  Rather, it is a question of is there a possibility of both of these perspectives existing in unison, in this world.

There is one glaring weakness in this particular book, however.  That is the number of unanswered questions that the story itself, opens and then fails to bring to closure.  In addition to two bizarre deaths that are suggested to be murders — but never fully explore, this book also has a mysterious secret society that wants to destroy modern advances with very little explanation of why, and even one primary character that has a very mysterious background with almost no insight as to why.  There appears to be a raging war in the year 2020, but we aren’t sure where it is, or why Adam has become a victim of this war. There there is also the fact that most of the book has the primary characters naked for most of the novel.  But it isn’t so much about sexuality, as the presentation of corruption, and the downfall of man. Overall, the book does present some of the main themes that I felt Naslund was trying to explore — but I came away feeling like there were also some gaping holes in the plot that left the reader wondering what — exactly — just happened.  So if you are looking for closure on this one, it may not be as satisfactory as some of the other books I have read.

For more information on this book, or about this author be sure to visit the following websites:

Huffington Post Article

TampaBay.com Book Review

New York Times Book Review

Ophrah Reading Guide

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

Abe Books

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2011-05-03 06:00:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

“Weaving a brilliant latticework of family legend, loss, and love, Téa Obreht, the youngest of The New Yorker’s twenty best American fiction writers under forty, has spun a timeless novel that will establish her as one of the most vibrant, original authors of her generation.

In a Balkan country mending from years of conflict, Natalia, a young doctor, arrives on a mission of mercy at an orphanage by the sea. By the time she and her lifelong friend Zóra begin to inoculate the children there, she feels age-old superstitions and secrets gathering everywhere around her. Secrets her outwardly cheerful hosts have chosen not to tell her. Secrets involving the strange family digging for something in the surrounding vineyards. Secrets hidden in the landscape itself.

But Natalia is also confronting a private, hurtful mystery of her own: the inexplicable circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. After telling her grandmother that he was on his way to meet Natalia, he instead set off for a ramshackle settlement none of their family had ever heard of and died there alone. A famed physician, her grandfather must have known that he was too ill to travel. Why he left home becomes a riddle Natalia is compelled to unravel.

Grief struck and searching for clues to her grandfather’s final state of mind, she turns to the stories he told her when she was a child. On their weeklytrips to the zoo he would read to her from a worn copy of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, which he carried with him everywhere; later, he told her stories of his own encounters over many years with “the deathless man,” a vagabond who claimed to be immortal and appeared never to age. But the most extraordinary story of all is the one her grandfather never told her, the one Natalia must discover for herself. One winter during the Second World War, his childhood village was snowbound, cut off even from the encroaching German invaders but haunted by another, fierce presence: a tiger who comes ever closer under cover of darkness. “These stories,” Natalia comes to understand, “run like secret rivers through all the other stories” of her grandfather’s life. And it is ultimately within these rich, luminous narratives that she will find the answer she is looking for.”

About the Book:  ★★★★★

Some books — as crazy as it sounds — a reader will fall in love with even before opening the book.  This book is one of them.  (Ok — I will admit it.  I love tigers.  I have always been fascinated with them.)  And once I started reading the book, I was not disappointed. 

The setting was the only part of the book that I found a little frustrating.  And it wasn’t in a bad way really.  It was just that sometimes I felt like it wasn’t really grounded in a tangible place.  I felt like I should have known where it was — but then something would happen and I would find myself confused again about the location.  That is not to say that this is necessarily a bad thing in this story.  This sense of slight confusion about time and place actually added an extra depth to the story for some reason.  It helped the reader to feel some of the confusion of this war torn country, and the discomfort of feeling that the world the characters inhabited was constantly shifting, and nothing was what it really appeared to be.  This helped add credibility to the slightly mystical quality of the story line — and in the end it actually worked.

The characters, however, were absolutely captivating.  I found myself constantly wanting to know more about each of the characters, and their history.  The story is developed in such a way that only pieces of the story are developed at a time, and they alternate between characters throughout the book.  So the only thing you become aware of right from the beginning is the present state of the Tiger, the Tiger’s Wife, and the three main characters — the Deathless Man, and a Natalia, and her grandfather.  The reader then follows the characters through the back stories that brought the characters to the present point in time throughout the remainder of the book. 

The writing and story development are both very effective in this book, and combined with the strong characters and the intriguing setting this book is a wonderful read.  Added to these is the mystery of the subtle ways in how these characters lives come together and as a reader I found that this book was one that was hard to put down.

For more information about this book, and its author be sure to visit the following websites:

Tea Obreht Website

LA Times Book Review

Author Interview

The Cornell Daily Sun Interview

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

Originally posted 2011-11-02 10:11:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

“Hoffman’s characters are always moving back and forth, challenging our perceptions, daring us to judge them.”—New York Times Book Review

The Red Garden introduces us to the luminous and haunting world of Blackwell, Massachusetts. Hoffman offers a transforming glimpse of small-town America, presenting us with some three hundred years of passion, dark secrets, loyalty, and redemption in a web of tales.

From the town’s founder, a brave young woman from England who has no fear of blizzards or bears, to the young man who runs away to New York City, the characters in The Red Garden are extraordinary and vivid: a young wounded Civil War soldier who is saved by a neighbor, a woman who meets a fiercely human historical character, a poet who falls in love with a blind man, a mysterious traveler who comes to town in the year when summer never arrives. At the center of everyone’s life is a garden where only red plants can grow, and where the truth can be found by those who dare to look. The Red Garden is as unforgettable as it is moving.”

Book Review:  ★★★★

When I first started this book I wasn’t very impressed.  In fact, I kept wondering what was the point of the story, and what was Hoffman trying to express.  Granted, epic works are hard to follow quite often due to the constantly changing character line up, as the only thing that stays constant is the setting that the whole story develops in.  And this one is particularly unusual because it covers over a hundred years in just under 200 pages.  This story is also a little different from other epic works in that it reads more like short stories about one person for each chapter of the book, and how that one individual interacts with the other people that live in this small little, isolated town. 

What finally caught my attention in this book is that it reminded me of my grandmother.  (No this isn’t a Freudian thing.)  My grandmother was always telling family stories.  They all had varying shades of fact mixed in with family lore.  These were stories that have been handed down to me through her own telling, in exactly the same way she received them.  Each generation has stories about the family, and the amusing things that each member of the family participates in.  As the family gets larger, and continues to grow more people are pulled in through marriages, the birth of children, and diminishes through death, and people leaving.  It is this constant changing through growth and attrition. But all of these stories take place in a small little universe of origin — the city where the family predominantly inhabits.  That is the feeling that comes through in this book.  The characters move on and off stage, and gives us just a small glimpse of how this small little town came to be, grew into what it was, and continues to develop as time moves on. This is a book about the folklore of a small town, and how the people come together to help create that folklore.

As I continued reading I came to appreciate how much a place is more than just somewhere we live.  Where we come from defines us as individuals.  It gives us a sense of belonging, and a grounding for us as people; we belong to the group that inhabites the place — family, friends, enemies, loves, and associations, all of them can be found within our own little universe.  This is the reason that a place takes on a character of its own.  It is as if a place will have characteristics that thrive through folklore, and the communal memory that survives from generation to generation.  This book is an excellent example of this concept.  There are no primary characters — as they keep changing generations with each passing chapter.  But rather than putting the reader off, since there is no one character to attach to — it allows the reader to attach to the setting, and the mystique that makes it up.  This is a unique approach to presenting a fascinating story because it gives the reader the opportunity to reflect on what makes one place different from another — and how much a place will define us, more than anything else around us.

For more information about this book and its author be sure to visit the following websites:

Alice Hoffman Website

Author Profile and Interview

Washington Times Book Review

The Los Angeles Times Book Review

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

Abe Books

Originally posted 2011-07-29 06:00:24. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present.  When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.

Book Review:  ★★★★

This is a book that I have dramatically different responses to.  The story, itself, is a wonderful read — and one I really enjoyed.  But, perhaps one of the reviews I have found online described best what I also felt about the book.  It could have been an amazing story!  As it was, it was simply OK.  

One of the things that really stands out in this book, and sets it apart as potentially amazing, is also the element that I felt left me wanting more.  That is the development of the characters.  The connection between Tin Win and Mi Mi is very well developed — particularly in portraying the struggles that bring them together.  It is the disabilities that serve as the connection between these two characters that makes for a unique read for this story.  But while the relationship that joins these characters together, it is interesting that I felt like there was something lacking in their individual character development.  I just came away wishing there was more to them and their individual personalities.  

Sendker’s love of the setting of Burma comes through very clearly in this book.  But it is another element that I felt like it was interestingly strong, and surprisingly weak at the same time.  While it is very apparent that the appreciation for the country is one the author seeks to share with his readers, somehow that doesn’t translate into a strong development of the setting as an element of the story.  I have read several stories set in the Burma and I have found that it is one of those settings that create another, almost mystical element of a story that tends to take on almost strong character proportions.  But this story never quite crosses this threshold.  

Overall — I did enjoy this read, and found that it has a great idea.  And the characters and their unique development due to the blindness element of the story adds a different element to the reader’s experience.  The ability of Tin Win to connect with the world around him through his ability to hear really opens a world for the reader that they will probably never know or appreciate, other than through this type of descriptive story.  But its sudden stop and the strange disconnect between the two different lives described of Tin Win also left me wanting more.

For more information about this author and his book be sure to visit the following websites:

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats Website

Publisher’s Weekly Book Review

Reading Group Guide

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

Originally posted 2013-02-17 18:18:57. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

Barcelona, 1945—Just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes one day to find that he can no longer remember his mother’s face. To console his only child, Daniel’s widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona’s guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again.

Daniel’s father coaxes him to choose a book from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the book he selects, a novel called The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax’s work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last of Carax’s books in existence.

Before Daniel knows it, his seemingly innocent quest has opened a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets, an epic story of murder, magic, madness, and doomed love, and before long he realizes that if he doesn’t find out the truth about Julian Carax, he and those closest to him will suffer horribly.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

This is a book that I really did stumble upon.  I had gone to the local book store in search of something else.  And since you have to look around at what else is available when you are in a bookstore — I just happened to be wandering.  As I came around the corner of a bookshelf, I knocked a book off, and it hit my foot, and slid across the floor.  When I picked it up — I just decided it had to go home with me.  It must have been the book gnomes making another recommendation, since this book rapidly made it onto my favorite books list.  The story is of a young boy that has lost his mother, and his father is seeking a means of helping him over the tremendous loss.  He takes him to a secret library — where he adopts one of the many lost books that are kept in this mysterious place.  The resurfacing of this book starts a mystery that proves to be both unusual, and entertaining all at the same time.  And yet it straddles the fence between being a true mystery novel, or a literary mystery novel.  It has the best aspects of both combined to make for a powerful story.

However, as compelling as the story was, it was the description that I fell in love with.  Set in the city of Barcelona, in 1945, the descriptions of this city come alive in this book.  I was amazed at how beautiful the city sounded, and the feeling of mystery and a romantic setting is so overwhelming, it radiates from the pages.  Mr Zafon is exceptional at describing places to such a degree that his readers come away feeling as if they have just visited this thrilling city. A lot of times I like to read books that deal with other places and cultures, because I find I gain a greater appreciation for other countries, cultures, and beliefs.  This is one of the primary reasons that I read — and this book has a lot to offer on the city of Barcelona.  And since I never knew much about this city — I really came away awed at the whole presentation.  I really felt a connection to this place, due to the descriptive powers of Mr. Zafon.

I was also very impressed at the multiple layers of the story, and how well they came together.  I find that authors are usually very good at taking a linear story, and creating a thrilling adventure from beginning to end.  But it is the rare few that are able to create multiple stories in one book, without confusing the readers, or muddling the stories threads so completely that it is difficult to figure out what is going one.  But Mr. Zafon has a great gift for developing multiple story lines, and actually maintains a powerful sense of mystery, without the confusion.  I also loved the fact that this wasn’t your stereotypical mystery story.  Mr. Zafon did not feel the need to follow the mold of traditional detective stories, and he resisted the temptation to resort to trite, cliche phrases that I find such a turn off.  This is simply an engrossing story that draws the reader in, and holds their attention.

I had a friend that I lent this book to, and they had a hard time getting into it — mainly because they found the relationship between the father and son to be a little creepy in the beginning.  And I must admit the opening couple of chapters seemed a little odd to me at first.  But as the story develops the beauty of this relationship between father and son becomes a great stabilizing factor of the story.  And best of all — many of the main characters have a reappearance in the follow up book The Angel’s Game.

I am always a fan of books that teach children to turn to books for solace, comfort, and a source of knowledge.  And I love to find a writer that still encourages this activity through the books he writes.  That is the other reason that I fell in love with this book.  Reading is becoming a much less popular form of entertainment in a world that is overwhelmed with information overload.  And many people have forgotten how fun it can be to stretch your imagination and enter another world inside of the covers of a book.

For more information about this book, and its author be sure to visit the following websites:

Carlos Ruiz Zazfon Website

Interview with the author from Time Magazine

Reading Group Guide

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

AbeBooks.com

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2010-12-07 07:07:24. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

He squared off against Caesar and was friends with young Brutus. He advised the legendary Pompey on his somewhat botched transition from military hero to politician. He lambasted Mark Antony and was master of the smear campaign, as feared for his wit as he was for exposing his opponents’ sexual peccadilloes. Brilliant, voluble, cranky, a genius of political manipulation but also a true patriot and idealist, Cicero was Rome’s most feared politician, one of the greatest lawyers and statesmen of all times. Machiavelli, Queen Elizabeth, John Adams and Winston Churchill all studied his example. No man has loomed larger in the political history of mankind.

In this dynamic and engaging biography, Anthony Everitt plunges us into the fascinating, scandal-ridden world of ancient Rome in its most glorious heyday. Accessible to us through his legendary speeches but also through an unrivaled collection of unguarded letters to his close friend Atticus, Cicero comes to life in these pages as a witty and cunning political operator.

Cicero leapt onto the public stage at twenty-six, came of age during Spartacus’ famous revolt of the gladiators and presided over Roman law and politics for almost half a century. He foiled the legendary Catiline conspiracy, advised Pompey, the victorious general who brought the Middle East under Roman rule, and fought to mobilize the Senate against Caesar. He witnessed the conquest of Gaul, the civil war that followed and Caesar’s dictatorship and assassination. Cicero was a legendary defender of freedom and a model, later, to French and American revolutionaries who saw themselves as following in his footsteps in their resistance to tyranny.

Anthony Everitt’s biography paints a caustic picture of Roman politics—where Senators were endlessly filibustering legislation, walking out, rigging the calendar and exposing one another’s sexual escapades, real or imagined, to discredit their opponents. This was a time before slander and libel laws, and the stories—about dubious pardons, campaign finance scandals, widespread corruption, buying and rigging votes, wife-swapping, and so on—make the Lewinsky affair and the U.S. Congress seem chaste.

Cicero was a wily political operator. As a lawyer, he knew no equal. Boastful, often incapable of making up his mind, emotional enough to wander through the woods weeping when his beloved daughter died in childbirth, he emerges in these pages as intensely human, yet he was also the most eloquent and astute witness to the last days of Republican Rome.

Book Review:  ★★★★★

This is a book that is a strange topic for me to read.  Politics is usually something that I avoid with pronounced effort.  I find politics irritating, and politicians only a couple steps above the polished criminal.  (I know — a trite, cliched stereotype.)  But that is how I have usually felt on the topic.  So, when I came across a quote by Cicero, somewhere, I couldn’t place the history to which he belonged.  I don’t even really remember where the quote came from, and I thought it was a very unusual, and insightful quote, on the role of government.  So, I went on a quest to find out who the man was, and what his history was.  This is the book I started with.

Well written, especially for a history book — I was very intrigued at this very eloquent lawyer/politician.  Considered one of, if not the best lawyer of Rome; Cicero eventually rose through the social, and political ranks to ultimately be considered one of the greatest political minds of his time.

What I found particularly interesting in this historical account, is he was a man that was central to the story of the fall of the Roman Republic — and his downfall became synonymous with the shift of the Republic into a dictatorship.  His writing is challenging reading — but his story is fascinating.  And Mr. Everitt has done a wonderful job of maintaining all of the suspense and drama of the time, as he tells the story of this amazing man’s life.

The history is also of particular interest — since in all of the Republics that have ever existed throughout history — there is a distinct pattern that evolves within the societies, which foretells the demise of these governments, and ultimately the societies as a whole.  It is of particular interest, therefore, to read about this history, and see several of the same symptoms that occur in our own society.  It is, if not scary, at the very least educational.

This is a really interesting book to read.  It is not burdened with a lot of background history, to detract from the focal point of the story.  Mr. Everitt has successfully taken a brief era, within the Roman history, and has expounded it under a magnifying glass — sufficient enough for a reader to gain a complex picture of a troubled society.

For more information on this book, and its author be sure to visit the following websites:

Publisher’s Website

New York Times Book Review

Book Review Salon.com

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

AbeBooks.com

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2011-01-07 07:00:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

Norman Maclean’s memories about growing up in Montana revolve around mighty trout rivers and the four-count rhythm of fly fishing. It is the one activity where his family can bridge troubled relationships, where brother can connect with brother and father with son. And in the end, it is the river that makes them realize that life continues and all things are related. The strong reading of Ivan Doig, Montana native and author of This House of Sky, adds much flavor to this tender, often very funny, and beautiful story about love and loss. A tale not to be missed and to be revisited frequently.

Book Review:  ★★★★

This is not normally my first choice of reading material.  Yes, I grew up in the Rocky Mountains — However, I have never been to Montana, I know nothing about fishing, and I am really not much of an outdoor person.  But, since school is not about reading what one would choose to read, so much as learning to read what is assigned to read, and discovering the significance of all types of books — this one made it to my reading list this year.  And surprisingly I found this book to be an interesting one, once I got into it.

Granted, I missed much of the technical presentation of the fishing, and the specific requirements for knowing how to identify the appropriate type of fishing hole, type of fly to be used, and the importance of the construction of the rod.  But I wouldn’t count this a wasted experience by any means.  The underlying story has a great deal in it that is worth the effort, and it is a powerful statement on family, and the difficulties of family relations.  The struggles which the author presents between himself, and his brother Paul are much more realistically portrayed than in many of the books I have read.  It explores the realms of not the events and common backgrounds which tie two brothers together, but rather the differences that bind them, while at the same time keeping them strangers to each other.  This book brings home the true question of any relationship, no matter how intimate, or how strong — “can we ever truly KNOW someone?”  Even those in our lives that have shared the most with us — the common parents, growing up experiences, and the bond of family — there will always be something of each individual which will keep them separate, and unknown.

This book also provides an elegant presentation of the difficulties that exist in trying to help someone, who finds themselves in trouble.  How much can any one person do in the assistance of another?  And, in the end — is it possible to help someone at all?  These are problems that loved ones and family members will always have to deal with when confronting addiction, alcoholism, gambling, and all kinds of other vices, in someone close to them.  And, as Mr. Maclean so eloquently puts it in the end, “It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us.”

This is also a great book for both imagery and symbolism.  The river, the rods, the religion, and ultimately each of the relationships speak volumes, which in turn adds both depth and perspective to this short book.  Mr. Maclean is gifted in his writing and has a real gift for description.  Settings are by far his strength — but there is a lot in this book that is worth the read.

For more information about this book, and its author be sure to visit the following websites:

Norman Maclean Website

Brothers Judd Book Review

Paul Davidson Maclean

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

AbeBooks.com

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2011-02-15 08:02:30. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

“David McCullough tells the story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence – when the whole American cause was riding on their success, without which all hope for independence would have been dashed and the noble ideals of the Declaration would have amounted to little more than words on paper.” “Based on extensive research in both American and British archives, 1776 is the story of Americans in the ranks, men of every shape, size, and color, farmers, schoolteachers, shoemakers, no-accounts, and mere boys turned soldiers. And it is the story of the King’s men, the British commander, William Howe, and his highly disciplined redcoats who looked on their rebel foes with contempt and fought with a valor too little known.” “Here also is the Revolution as experienced by American Loyalists, Hessian mercenaries, politicians, preachers, traitors, spies, men and women of all kinds caught in the paths of war.” “At the center of the drama, with Washington, are two young American patriots, who, at first, knew no more of war than what they had read in books – Nathanael Greene, a Quaker who was made a general at thirty-three, and Henry Knox, a twenty-five-year-old bookseller who had the preposterous idea of hauling the guns of Fort Ticonderoga overland to Boston in the dead of winter.” “But it is the American commander-in-chief who stands foremost – Washington, who had never before led an army in battle.” “The book begins in London on October 26, 1775, when His Majesty King George III went before Parliament to declare America in rebellion and to affirm his resolve to crush it. From there the story moves to the Siege of Boston and its astonishing outcome, then to New York, where British ships and British troops appear in numbers never imagined and the newly proclaimed Continental Army confronts the enemy for the first time.”

Book Review:  ★★★★

This was one of the first books I ever read — outside of assigned school reading — that dealt with the beginnings of the American Revolution.  I guess I have always felt that you get bored easily, with what you should know the best, probably because that is always the beginning, end, and everything in between of starting an education.  However, this book really caught me by surprise.  It provides a close look at what was considered the very volatile environment of the American Colonies, in the year that relations between England, and her colonial subjects fell apart.

While I found the writing, and the history compelling, and very well researched, what really stood out for me in this book was the intense feel that the book conveyed.  I know many people don’t associate a feel to a book, and frequently consider reading a strictly intellectual pursuit.  But this is one book that I always point to when people tell me this.  This is a book that is an edge of you seat suspense, because of the extreme pressure that existed during the time about which Mr. McCullough has written.

I have always heard about the highly overrated Boston Massacre — in which five people lost their lives.  And then of course there was the great American temper tantrum, known as the Boston Tea Party.  And there is even the unidentified shot that was heard round the world — interesting that they heard it, but never knew who fired it.  But this book changed a lot of my perceptions.  Not about these particular events — but about the underlying feelings of discontent, frustration, and volatility that existed in the American colonies, at the time.  And it was also fascinating to have it lined up side by side, with the events that were taking place in England — and how these two differing opinions ultimately collided into a seven year war, which no one believed would last but a few months; ultimately leading to the severance of the Americas from the control of England, and gave birth to a new experiment in the merging of old political ideals, and the painful recent memory of wrongs committed by the more well known government that was no longer a great influence in the American nation.  This book is not impressive for its replay of the usual events of the beginnings of the American Revolution — but rather it is the small details that make this book an interesting read.

This book also provides an interesting look into what went into making the American culture as we know it.  How this new country managed to take a myriad of backgrounds, cultures, beliefs, and political ideals, and merge them into one cohesive whole.  No small feat — even for today, not to mention back then.  But this book looks at the interesting, and unique circumstances that existed in making this era of American history so unusual.  Few people give credence to the fact that circumstances, distance, and lack of communication determined the outcome of this confrontation, as much as, if not more so, than did any desire for political, religious, or personal freedom.

I have always enjoyed reading about American history — however, I frequently get frustrated with the one sided presentation, and the one sided accounts that are usually presented in this era of reading.  I have never seen history as being one sided, and I always try to find accounts that present both sides of any situation.  Mr. McCullough has presented an excellent work that has been very equal in the coverage of this volatile time in history, as he looks at an event that changed many perceptions in the world, and restructured the political balance of power in the years that followed.

For more information about this book, and its author — be sure to visit the following websites:

Publisher Website

David McCullough Biography

Bookreporter Book Review

Associated Content Book Review

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

AbeBooks.com

Barnes and Noble

Originally posted 2010-12-05 10:50:51. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

About the Book:

“There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that’s what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.”

Book Review:  ★★★★★

This was a surprise book, that really caught me off guard.  I have been shying away from many of the newest teenage angst, coming of age in the supernatural world following in the wake of the Harry Potter series.  Don’t get me wrong — I enjoyed the series as much as everyone else.  But I get frustrated with the books that everyone seems to be talking about.  Hype fiction just gets to be so over publicized — much to the determent of so many other excellent authors out there.  Combine that with the latest trend in young adult fiction of vampires, werewolves, ghosts, witches and everything else dealing with the supernatural — and I am starting to feel like they are all the same.  Consequently I was a little surprised when I came across this one and was interested.  (OK, I will admit it — it was the cover that drew me in.) 

This one I particularly loved because of the unique approach of Garcia and Stohl.  Primarily this is a story that is grounded in the deep south, and is based in a family’s history.  Surrounding this family is generation after generation of rumor and suspicion about the bizarre things that are attributed to the members of this family.  Why did I find this approach so unique? Well — because everyone knows what it is like to have one member, or family of a community where they grew up that has these types of stories attached to them.  The local haunted houses that all the kids dare each other to break into as a right of passage, the strange old man on the next block over that is always yelling at the kids to stay off his property, and has unintentionally invited the mischief making of the local kids, or the crazy bag lady that has more stories about her — but no one seems to know the truth.  It was just simply a premise that was easy for readers to identify with.  And — to be honest — uncovering the truth behind those rumors always makes for a great story. 

I also felt particularly drawn to the characters because I was always one of those kids that never seemed to fit in with the in crowd.  Being a teenager is a hard thing.  It is often frustrating, and challenging to find a place where you fit in, and then still define yourself as an individual among everyone else around you trying to do the same thing.  Lena and Ethan are great characters for demonstrating the challenges facing everyone growing up in the world.  The choice of who you want to be, and who you want to be it with.  This classic tale of the misfits being drawn together and forming a bond that is always so much more profound than the other kids around them is another subject that readers can identify with — because these growing pains are one that every person goes through at one point or another in their lives. 

The mystical portion of the book — the casters are also different from many of the stories that I have seen out there lately.  It has taken its own story of “witches” and turned it into something new and different.  Grounded in the background history of the family, and the source of the mystical powers that this unusual family seems to have, there is more here than simply a witches and warlocks invention.  The story is unique in how it has been written, and it is creative and fun to read.  The connection between Ethan and Lena, as well as the characters of Lena’s family are all fun to read about — and the story is a great good vs. evil theme.  This unique story combined with the mystical feel of the old south, and the origin of the story set back during the Civil War — and you have the makings of a wonderful read. 

For more information about this book, and its authors be sure to visit the following websites:

Kami Garcia Website

Caster Series Website

Margaret Stohl Website

When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, The Book Worm’s Library earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog by contributing to giveaways, postage, travel, and attending book industry related events. We appreciate all those that help to support our blog, and have provided links below for the direct links to this book.

Abe Books

Originally posted 2011-07-27 12:29:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter